Production of nitrogenous compounds.



current PAUL RALPH HERSHMAN, OF'CI-IICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ARMOUR FERTILIZER WORKS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PRODUCTION NIfIROGENOUS COMPOUNDS.

1,188,772, Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 2'? 1916,

No Drawing. Continuation of application Serial No. 871,003, fll'ed November 9, 1914. This application filed January 10, 1916. Serial No. 71,218.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PAUL RALPH HERsH-' MAN, a citizen of Austria-Hungary, residing with the nitrogen and when such compound s further subjected to the action of nitro en 1t facilitates and aids thecombination 0 or at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of IlllIlOlS, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Production of Nitrogenous Compounds, of which the following is a specification.

One of the chief objects and aims of this invention is the production of nitrogenous compounds, such for example, as the nitrogenous compounds of aluminum, by an improved process or method, so as to secure by the addition of certain ingredients to the mixture, an increase in the amount of nitrogen which will be combined as contrasted with the amount of nitrogen which would be taken up during the same tiine period without the addition of these ingredients, or, a further object 'of the inventionis to effect the combination with the nitrogen at lower temperatures in the same proportion as effected otherwise without the use of the additional ingredients or catalytic agents at hi her temperatures.

he advantages of this invention are secured or accomplished by adding to the mixture employed a small amount of a carrying agent capable of forming unstable compounds with nitrogen, and preferably, although not exclusively, by adding such a carrying agent as is capable of combining with nitrogen in more than one proportion. T have particularly in mind compounds of that nature in which the higher proportion of nitrogen may be reduced by hydrogen to one with a lower proportion of nitrogen, possibly with an intermediate formation of ammonia I The improved process or method in its preferred manner of execution is carried out as follows: A powdered mixture of alu1ninum oxid with at least sufiicient carbon to efiect its reduction, and containing from one half (4 to five (5 per cent. by weight of a carrying-agent of the nature described, such as titanium, calcium, or thosev of their combinations with other elements which are susceptible to reduction by carbon, is heated to a temperature of 1500 to 1600 degrees centigrade in a current of nitrogen and some hydrogen, as, for instance, generator or producer gas. Q g

The carrying-agent employed combines indicated above the reaction between the aluminum and nitrogen in the production of aluminum nitrid, or, if generator or producer gas containing both nitrogen and hydrogen is used, the combination of the carrying-agent and the higher proportion of nitrogen is reduced by the hydrogen, with possibly an intermediate formation of ammonia, and, at the same time, aids the combination of the nitrogen with the aluminum.

I do not wish to be strictly limited to the theory of the reaction herein advanced, as in cases of this kind, the exact reactions occurring are difficult to ascertain, but the action may be taken as a working basis. That is to say, if the current of nitrogen alone is used, the presence of the carrying-agent assists in the union of the aluminum and nitrogen, while a somewhat similar result is obtained if a gas containing both nitrogen and hydrogen is employed. In both instances the use of the carryingagent increases the amount of nitrogen taken up by the aluminum and hastens the reaction.

This invention is not strictly confined to the exact ingredients specified nor to the precise proportions of parts and temperatures indicated, because these may be modified within certain limits without departure from the substance of the invention and without sacrificing any of its substantial benefits.

This application is a continuation of my former application, Serial No. 871,003, production of nitrogenous compounds, filed November 9, 1914.

T'claim:

l. The method of producing nitrogenous compounds of aluminum which consists in heating in a current of nitrogen at a temperature suflicient to effect the reaction, a mixture of aluminum oXid, sufficient carbon to reduce the oXid, and a carrying-agent capable of combining with nitrogen in more than one proportion, substantially as described.

2. The method of producing nitrogenous compounds of aluminumwvhich consists in heating in a current of gas containing nitrogen and hydrogen at a temperature suficient to efi'ect the reaction, a mixture of aluminum 10 oxid, suf'ficient carbon to reduce the oxid, and a carrying-agent capable of combining with nitrogen in more than one proportion, and which in its nitrogen combination is susceptible of reduction by hydrogen, substan- 15 tially as described.

PAUL RALPH HERSHMAN. 

